#bottlespells

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A spell bottle is a bottle into which a magical spell has been cast in the form of physical items used to ensure that the spell results in the desired outcome.

A bottle spell is a magical spell that is contained within a bottle, and which, when finished, is expected to work for the ends one desires.

There are many types of bottle spells used in folk magic traditions from around the world. Almost every culture that uses bottles (or gourds, or animal horns) as containers also has developed ways to use those containers to hold works of magical spell craft.

The painted bottle spells shown here were made in America from small medical bottles. They come in both

hoodooand Catholic styles, as described below.

EUROPEAN, ENGLISH, AND ANGLO-AMERICAN WITCH BOTTLES

Among the earliest spell bottles known are those called "Witch Bottles." They are buried under the threshold or hidden up in a chimney to keep witches or evil-intentioned people away from your home. Examples of glazed clay witch bottles have been found in England that date back to the 1600s at least. A typical witch bottle contains sharp, jagged items like bent pins, shards of glass, nails, or even broken razor blades, a hair, and the urine of the person who wishes to be protected. Some of the ancient witch bottles found sealed by archaeologists in England have been opened and all of them that still contained liquids tested positive for the presence of

urine.

In more recent times, the witch bottles of England and Anglo-America have been made from cobalt blue glass and they are often kept on a window sill "for pretty" as well as to keep away witches and the evil eye. Because they function as "fascinators" and spirit traps, they are typically filled with shiny and sparkly things. The empty cobalt blue glass bottle shown here is typical of the style used. It has a rolled rim and is stoppered with a cork, adding to its old-fashioned look and charm. Its shape has led folks to call it a "potion bottle," and of course it can also be used for storing magical liquids.

This is a small, short, squat style of jar made from very pale green recycled glass. The shape is what used to be called a "Cream Cup" in restaurants -- a tiny container for coffee cream. Made of glass and outfitted with a cork stopper, it serves beautifully as a Spice or Herb Jar, or a diminutive container for a special Bottle Spell.

Order Cobalt Blue and Recycled Glass Bottles from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.

LATIN AMERICAN CHARM FLASKS

In Central and South America -- and especially in Peru -- spell bottles are created that are customarily filled with a variety of hand-made and natural botanical lucky and protective amulets and curios. Most of them contain a combination of native folk-magical charms and Catholic religious artifacts such as holy prints and small hand-painted soapstone

patron saints for various conditions. The arrangement of the articles within the flasks is quite artful.

When used on the altar, the bottle is filled with oil and sealed. Prayers are said over it and it becomes a permanent part of the altar furnings as long as the spell is in effect or being worked on.

These bottle spells come in many sizes, from medical ampules to whiskey flasks. Some beautiful examples of such bottle spells from Peru, Bolivia, and Guatemala can be found on the page of charm vials and charm flasks.

Order Latin American Charm Vials and Charm Flasks from the Lucky Mojo Curio Co.

HOODOO CROSSING, BREAK-UP, and VINEGAR BOTTLE SPELLS

One of the oldest bottle spells that is not a witch-bottle or protective spell is the

Break Up bottle. These are most commonly found in African American hoodoomagic, but their contents are related to similar "divorce from demons" spells inscribed in bowls that are found in ancient Jewish ruins.

Break Up bottles typically are fixed with the names of the people whom one wishes to separate, and they contain the hair of a Black Dog and the hair of a Black Cat-- so the people you want to break up will "fight like cats and dogs."

To this is typically added a group of 9 needles, 9 pins, and 9 rusty coffin nailsto cause them to hurt one another.red pepper flakes orwhole red pepper podsto make then angry, and a selection of prepared Sachet Powders or Mineral Powderssuch asBreak Up, Separation, or Hot Foot powders, orGoofer Dust, orGraveyard Dirt, depending on whether the intention is to drive a couple apart or drive away an unwanted person. A full account of one such a spell, with all ingredients listed, including a xxx can be found on the page of Break Upsupplies, under the heading "A Traditional Break Up Spell in a Bottle."

Not all harmful bottle spells are used to break up relationships, Similar bottles or jars may be prepared to ruin the life of a single individual or to drive him or her away. Generally, except for the absence of the Black Dog Hair and Black Cat Hair, and the use of a different array of preparedSachet Powders or Mineral Powders, these bottles are indistinguishable from Break Up bottles. The ingredients used may include Crossing, Destruction, Jinx, D.U.M.E., Run Devil Run. powders, or Goofer Dust, orGraveyard Dirt,

Harmful bottle spells may be prepared with dry ingredients or, alternatively, after the combination of dry ingredients is placed in the container, the bottle may be filled with urine to dominate an individual or with Vinegarto sour a relationship between two people or to sour the life of one person.

A blackcandleinscribed with the people's names written back-to-back (to separate them) may be burned in the mouth of the bottle before it is sealed. After it is prepared it can be buried at their home where they will step over it or it can be shaken up daily as you name them and call down curses on their relationship. Because gasses may build up in a Vinegarjar, causing them to explode; it is customary to keep them wrapped up in a thick black cloth between times of working with them.

To lay the trick or deploythe fixed container, it may be shaken, thrown into running water, thrown into a crossroads, buried under the doorstep or walk-way path, thrown over their roof, broken, or, in the case of a lemon, cut and the juice squeezed behind the one you want to have get away.

Generally when one undertakes harmful spell work -- and a vinegar jar is always harmful -- it is a good idea to perform protection work to keep the space clear of incursions, and and to humbly perform a cleansing ritual afterward for the good of one's own soul. Protection is especially necessary when one is performing a coercive "Spill Your Guts" type of Compelling bottle spell